• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 4, 2007

There is a new twist in the long-running feud between Clear Channel Radio and Arbitron. The latter plans to create a new ratings currency based on results from its Portable People Meter (PPM), a passive electronic measurement device that Arbitron is positioning as a replacement for old-fashioned paper diaries.

Arbitron reps circulated a resolution from the Arbitron Advertiser/Agency Advisory Council--a forum representing radio advertisers--urging all radio station owners to begin encoding their signal for PPM monitoring.

The resolution states: "Whether the station elects to subscribe to the service is a decision that is clearly theirs." Still, it urged encoding for PPM measurement as a step toward more transparency in competition:

"The Arbitron Agency and Advertiser Advisory Council believes that all radio stations in each of these markets should encode their signals for PPM measurement... This will give advertisers, marketers, agencies, and stations the ability to understand and better evaluate radio" performance," it adds.

Among the industry executives endorsing the resolution were representatives from Horizon Media, Carat North America, Mindshare, Initiative, PHD, Starcom Worldwide and Ford Motor Company.

This is the second resolution from an Arbitron Advisory Council.

The first resolution, from the Radio Advisory Council, which represented Arbitron's client radio stations, urged Arbitron and the Media Rating Council to settle any outstanding issues preventing MRC accreditation of the PPM system. MRC accreditation is the main precondition set by a radio-industry audit committee--led by Clear Channel--for any electronic system offered as the next ratings currency.

Given widespread impatience for electronic measurement in the radio industry as a whole, PPM advocates have accused Clear Channel of dawdling as it leads this lengthy industry audit. Clear Channel, in turn, has cited MRC's decision not to grant accreditation to the PPM and questioned Arbitron's ability to roll out PPM for nationwide measurement in a timely fashion.

Industry insiders have speculated that the conflict between Arbitron and Clear Channel may simply be a cover for fierce price negotiations for ratings from the new measurement system--implying that an eventual adoption of PPM is likely.

At MediaPost's Forecast conference in September 2006, Jeff Haley, the incoming president and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), cited price negotiations as a likely cause of delay, but predicted industry-wide electronic measurement by the end of 2007.